Death's Cayendo
by life among the dead
Summary: Anderson Ruiz saw them ever since that day, or really that night. The strange illusions that he sees that others can't. The powers he can't even begin to explain. Anderson wants to let go of his past but his present won't let him. With the help of a certain team and a possible love interest, he might be able to confront his past. Tony Stark/OMC Steve Rogers/Peter Parker
1. Start of Time

**9:35pm**

 **Friday**

 **November 12, 1999**

 **Big Bear Lake, California**

 **Two story House**

* * *

"Papi! Dónde estás?!" A four year old boy called out from his front porch, brown eyes searching through the darkness of the night.

"Anderson, time for bed." An older girl of nine years old stood at the door. She spoke with a heavy accent. "Papi will come home soon. You'll see him in the morning."

'Anderson' looks up at his older sister. "Promesa, Victoria?"

"I promise. Now, come. Time for bed." Victoria held out her hand for which her brother grabbed and lead him to their shared bedroom.

Anderson and Victoria trek up the stairs, turning the lights off behind them until they reached their room.

While Anderson started changing into his pajamas, he wonders why his Papi isn't home yet. "Tori, por qué no vino papi casero?"

"May have got held up at work again. Or he's visiting Mama." Victoria answers, not taking her eyes off the floor. "And speak English. We are in America, not in Ecuador anymore."

"No es importante que hablamos a español?" Anderson ask, arms crossed.

"It is important but not everyone here speaks Spanish and we have to speak their language." Victoria explains, pulling the covers back on Anderson's bed. She patted the pillow. "We have to get up early tomorrow. So, get into bed."

The light-haired boy climbed onto the bed and wrapped himself in the blanket. "Buenos noches."

Victoria turned off the bedside lamp, making the room dark for a few seconds until moonlight filtered in through the window. "Buenos noches."

* * *

 **5:40am**

 **Friday**

 **November 13, 1999**

 **Big Bear Lake, California**

 **Two story House**

* * *

A loud alarm rang, waking the two siblings from their sleep.

Anderson yawns and stretches his arms and legs. He rubs his eyes when he remembers last night. He ran out of the room, and ran downstairs. "Papi, es hogar?!"

He stopped at the foot of the staircase. There was silence, no sign that his Papi even came home last night.

Victoria had shaken her head in fondness when her brother went looking for their father before trailing at a slower pace after him. But she didn't hear her father's voice and walked faster down the stairs.

This was a first. Papa has always come home before they woke up in the morning and when they did wake up, they would usually find him cooking breakfast before sending Victoria off to school and Anderson to daycare.

"Papa?" Victoria called, not expecting an answer.

A booming knock caused the two kids to flinch in surprise.

Anderson held onto Victoria's hand as they walked to the door. Victoria opens the door to see a policewoman standing there.

"Hi, are you Victoria and Anderson Ruiz?" The woman politely asks. Victoria and Anderson quietly nodded.

"Por qué estás aquí?" Anderson questions. The woman gave him a confused look before looking at his sister.

Victoria sighs at her brother's refusal to speak English. "He asked, 'why are you here?'"

"Oh. This isn't easy to tell you. Your dad, Emanuel Ruiz, he passed away last night." The policewoman said somberly, hating that she has to break the devastating news to the little children.

"No, that can't be true." Victoria said, tears blurring her vision.

"I'm sorry. I really am." The woman apologized.

Victoria looked down at her younger brother and saw that he was motionless. He was standing there with a blank look on his face.

"Anderson?" Victoria looked at him with worry.

Anderson finally reacted and pushed his sister away. "Eres un mentiroso! Prometiste! Prometió que estaría aquí!"

Anderson ran off into the forest that surrounds his home and disappeared from Victoria's sight.

He didn't hear his sister's whisper when he ran deep into the forest.

 _"Lo siento."_

* * *

 **1:37pm**

 **Tuesday**

 **May 15, 2015**

 **New York City, New York**

 **Fifth street**

* * *

"Anderson, wait up!"

Anderson Ruiz turned around to see his close friend, Peter Parker running up to him. He stopped to let him catch up.

"How was your dinner with Liz and Josephine last night?" Anderson asked as they started walking side by side. Peter gave him a look of annoyance.

"I don't know why I let you talk me into doing double dates if you're not going to show and I end up with two girls as my dates!" Peter exclaims, arms waving around to make his point.

Anderson laughs at the face Peter is making. "I'm sorry, sorry. Something came up last minute."

"I hope it was extremely, life-threatening important that you had to ditch on our double date." Peter grumbled.

"Again, I'm sorry. Forgive me if I give you this?" Anderson holds out a chocolate frosted donut to his blue-eyed friend.

"A Boston Creme?" Peter glanced between the donut and Anderson before grabbing the donut. "You're forgiven as long you don't do it again."

"Deal. Now, come on. Time to go to our _wonderful_ job." Anderson said, sarcastic with the last sentence he said.

Peter held in a groan at the idea of going to their horrible job. "Yeah, so wonderful."

* * *

 **1:57pm**

 **Tuesday**

 **May 15, 2015**

 **New York City, New York**

 **Wonderful Dining**

* * *

The bell over the door rang as the two boys entered the diner. It was vacant, obviously had no customers all day.

"Parker! Ruiz! Stop dawdling and get to work!" Mr. Mastin ordered, walking through the swinging door that leads to the kitchen.

"We're going, we're going." Anderson say, going behind the counter and wrapped an apron around his waist, Peter doing the same.

* * *

 **3:45pm**

* * *

"Why do we have this job again?" Anderson asks in absolute boredom as he stared at the empty tables and chairs.

"I don't know."

* * *

 **6:59pm**

* * *

After an uneventful shift, Anderson says, "Well, I'm out."

"Me too." Peter agree, both taking off their aprons.

The two boys left the worn down building and bid their goodbyes.

"Tomorrow, wanna to meet up at the Joint?" Anderson said before Peter walked away.

"Are you actually going to show up?" Peter responds, a playful smirk to show he's not serious.

"You're not going to let it go, are you?" Anderson laughs. Peter shakes his head, a small 'nope' leaving his lips.

"See you there, then. Más tarde!" Anderson says, heading for the C39 bus stop.

"Bye!" Peter replies back over his shoulder as he walks down to the train station.

Once Anderson made sure that Peter was gone, he switched directions and headed in the opposite direction. He strolls into a empty alleyway and makes sure that nobody's watching before tapping the side of his neck like there was some kind of button on it. The result was instantaneous.

A rainbow glimmering light covered his body before dimming to nothing.

Anderson stood there in a skin-tight hoodie, hood slightly covering his face, a black cloth covers his nose and mouth, and baggy sweatpants.

"Now, it's time for my next job." Anderson said to himself as he climbs up the fire escape to the roof.

Once he was up there, he started running and jumped to the next building. This continues on for a few minutes until he was a block away from a certain tower.

Avengers tower looms over his head in its majestic glory. He gave a wave at the tower, knowing JARVIS, Tony Stark's AI, can see him from the outer cameras. And no doubt will tell his creator that he's here, so he jumps to the next building and keeps going.

"Stop, leave me alone!" A cry from below caught his attention and he peers over the edge of the roof down at the alley to see two muscle bound thugs cornering a woman into the corner.

The thug on the left laughed. "Now, why would we want to do that?"

Anderson frowned and jumped down silently behind them. The woman glanced at him in fear and relief. "Because if you don't, then you're going straight to jail."

The duo turned furiously at the voice who dares disrupt them. Their eyes widen at the sight of him. "Yo, it's Death Angel!"

Death Angel smirks at this, tapping his foot. "Are you going to stop ogling me anytime soon or are we going to fight?"

The man on the right narrowed his eyes at his comment and growled, throwing a fast punch at Death Angel, who dodged.

"Get him!" The men started launching punches and kicks at him, Death Angel dodging most of them.

His eyes caught on the terrified woman behind the thugs, staring at the scene before her. He yelled at her, "Go!"

With one last glance sent his way, she ran off.

Death Angel, relieved that she's safe, turned his attention to the criminals.

'My turn.' He thought. He slammed each of his hands onto the chests of the two in front of him and he released a loud scream, sending them flying into the opposite wall, knocking them unconscious.

In the distance, Death Angel heard the police sirens. "Time to go."

Death Angel climbed up the fire escape and sat near the ledge, enough to be hidden from below but enough to see into the alleyway.

Two policeman ran into the alley, guns raised at the knocked-out men. One of them took out his radio, while the other was starting to put handcuffs on the criminals, and said into it, "Yeah, we found them. Taking them into custody now."

Death Angel couldn't hear what the response was but he heard the policeman say, "It was definitely the work of Death Angel."

Death Angel smiles before running and jumping to the next rooftop.

* * *

 **8:43pm**

 **Tuesday**

 **May 15, 2015**

 **New York City, New York**

 **Citystone Building Rooftop**

* * *

After an hour's worth of patrol, Death Angel sat on the ledge, overlooking the brightly lit city.

"Hermosa." He breathed out.

"You know, I really like it when you speak in that language nobody understands." A mechanized voice commented from behind. Death Angel turned to see Iron Man hovering there before turning his jet boots off and lands on the ground.

"Well, I'm glad you do since no entiendes lo que estoy diciendo." Death Angel smugly replied. Iron Man retracted his faceplate to show his handsome face.

"Now you're just gloating." Tony Stark said, disassembling the suit and stepping out of it. Death Angel chuckled quietly, turning back to the city, Tony sitting close to him on the ledge.

Death Angel subtly checked his phone and saw the time. "Wow, it took you twenty minutes longer than usual to get here. You're getting slow, Molasses."

"Oh please, Angel. Molasses got nothing on me and you know it. I was late because Pepper had me trapped in a two-hour long meeting for Stark Industries."

"Well, you do have responsibilities to take care of." Death Angel said, glancing at the billionaire. "Even if you don't want to, you big whiner."

Tony stuck his tongue out at him childishly and looked away.

"Awww, whattsa matta? I hurt your feelings, big boy?" Death Angel cooed. Tony stayed silent and crossed his arms, playing along.

"I'm sorry, for like the third time today." Tony gave him a confused look. Death Angel elaborated, "I apologized at least twice today. This is the third."

"Ah. What did you have to apologize for?" Tony ask.

"I was supposed to go on a double date with a friend of mine but of course, Death Angel needed to show up at several crimes." Death Angel said, not noticing the frown Tony gave when he mentioned 'double date'.

"So, anyway, moving on. Want to hang out at the tower? You can help me with some modifications on the new armor design." Tony offered, silently hoping he'd say yes.

Death Angel thought it over and was about to accept but then he remembered something. He groaned slightly, "Sorry, can't. I have to be up early to go to a job meeting. Even though, I don't want to."

Death Angel grins, referring to their earlier conversation. Tony hides the disappointment in his eyes and grins as well. He opened his mouth to say something but got interrupted, "I'm not skipping it."

Tony closes his mouth and looks away. Death Angel catches onto his disappointment and pulls him into a side-hug. "Next time. I promise."

"You better or I'm going to drag you to my workshop myself, Angel." Tony said, pointing at him.

Death Angel nodded. "By the way, can you give me a ride to Central Park?"

Tony sighs in fake annoyance. "Nah, you just ditched on me. Why should I give you a ride, ditcher? That should be your hero name. Ditch Angel."

"Ha-ha-ha. Very funny. But seriously, can I get a ride? Please?"

"I don't know. _Can_ you?"

"One of these days, I'm going to hit you over the head."

"I'd love to see you try."

" _May_ I please get a ride now?"

"Sure." Tony suited up and had Death Angel into the infamous Hug and Hold. Tony started up the jet boots and they were flying up into the night sky.

Death Angel whooped in excitement as they made many turns around buildings and soon, Central Park was in view. Tony hovered a few feet from the ground and let Death Angel go.

He landed on the ground and waved at the red and gold armored hero. "Hasta la próxima!"

"I really need a translator." Iron Man said over his shoulder, as he flew away.

Death Angel merely laughed and started running home.


	2. Slipped Away

**6:00am**

 **Friday**

 **November 13, 1999**

 **Big Bear Lake, California**

 **Deep in the forest**

* * *

'It can't be true. It can't be true.' The mantra repeated itself in Anderson's head as he ran, never stopping.

One second, he was running, the next, he was rolling down a hill. He tried to grab a few tree stumps, to no avail. He came to stop when he hit a thick trunk of a tree. He didn't try to move, just laid there, sobbing quietly to himself.

"Andy?"

Anderson peeked one eye open and looks around. There was nobody here. He must have just imagined it.

"Andy!"

There was no mistaking it. Anderson sat up and looked around, still nothing. "Quién está allí?"

Only the crinkle of leaves answered as they were blown across the ground. The four year old got to his feet and walked forward, trying to hear the voice again.

"Annndddyyyyy."

He whirled around to see a woman in her late twenties standing there. "Mama?"

Mama held her arms open and he ran into them.

Or he would've if they were real. He smacked into the tree that was behind his mother.

He groaned in pain as he held his bleeding nose. He looked at where his mother was.

She's gone.

* * *

 **9:12am**

 **Wednesday**

 **May 16, 2015**

 **New York City, New York**

 **Marcell's Apartment Complex**

* * *

"That was a waste of my time." Anderson muttered as he threw his keys onto the dining room table. He took off his jacket and put it on the table as well.

He went into his bedroom and grabbed his tv remote, turning on the television while he laid down on his bed.

"-are menaces! All they do is make trouble! Spider-Man is always leaving behind those slimy strings and Death Angel is a murderer! It's right there in the name: Death! He's a summon of death itself! I want those two off the streets! Where are the Avengers when you need them?!"

"Uughhhh! Bye, Jameson!" Anderson said, changing the channel. "Bastardo desagradecido."

Anderson watched as Thomas fight Ben off and run off for the other Gladers. "Go, you little maze runner."

 **Slam!**

Anderson looked through his bedroom door. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

He stood up and slowly walked to the door. He peeked out into the hallway, looking left and right. He held up his right hand, fingers spread open. He crept forward out into the dining room.

One of his chairs was tipped over on the ground, obviously what caused the sound.

Anderson let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and picked up the chair and put it back to the way it was before.

He felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise when he felt there was someone watching him. He turned around to see Tony standing there. But he wasn't the real Tony Stark.

This Tony had no eyes and a slit throat, blood pouring down his chest.

Anderson gasped and stumbled backwards into the wall. He whispered, "What do you want from me?"

Tony spoke but it wasn't in English. "No por qué me salvó? Pensé que éramos amigos. Mataron y ahora... me mataste. Solo volver a donde vienes. Ir a casa."

Anderson let out a shrill shriek. "No! I can't go back!"

Tony sneers at him. _"YOU WILL GO BACK TO WHEREVER YOU CAME FROM, LEST IT BE NOW OR LATER!"_

* * *

 **2:14pm**

 **Wednesday**

 **May 16, 2015**

 **New York City, New York**

 **72nd Street, West side**

* * *

Peter heard a click from his camera as he snaps a picture of the crowd forming around a street performer.

After helping Aunt May with the groceries, he had decided to take some pictures of New Yorkers out on the streets for the Bugle. So far he has take photos of the lake in Central Park, a blond man running with a dark-skinned man, and a woman handing out flyers for promoting Tech-Watches.

Peter was about to take a picture of some little kids running to the candy store, The Sweet Life, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Anderson standing there.

"Hey, ready to go?" Peter said. Anderson nodded.

Peter then noticed that his lip looked like it'd been all chewed up and his eyes keep darting around as if he thinks there's someone out to get him.

"Hey, you okay?" He asks in concern. Anderson snapped his eyes to Peter's and quietly, "Yeah, no, yes, I'm fine. Come on, let's go to the Joint."

"Okay, if you say so." Peter says, not convinced. He slung an arm around his friend's shoulder and they started walking.

* * *

 **2:30pm  
**

 **Wednesday**

 **May 16, 2015**

 **New York City, New York**

 **The Joint**

* * *

Anderson and Peter arrived at a huge building. There was a long line that reaches to the end of the block.

"I think this is a new record for the Joint." Peter said, hands stuffed in his jacket pockets.

"Agreed, let's head inside." Anderson replied, moving to walk up the stairs. Peter followed behind him, eyeing the crowded line.

"Hey, they aren't in line! What are you two doing?!" A man, fifth in line, called through the people's conversations. A few others cried out in protest when they saw the two males.

The bouncer turned to them and gave them a 'really, bros?' look and they shrugged at him. He waved his hands in shooing motion, towards the door, allowing them to go inside.

"Thanks, Miguel!" Anderson called to the black-haired bouncer as he opened the door, letting Peter inside before going in after him.

The duo went further in to see a huge crowd, dancing it up on the dance floor.

 _"I think it's time to rel-o-oad."_

 _"I ain't missing any free throws."_

"Whoo! I think it's time to have fun!" Anderson cheered, while Peter looked a tad uncomfortable.

Anderson noticed and clapped a hand on Peter's back. "This is nothing new, man. Just get into the groove of the music. Ooohh, I love this song."

 _"We got that Coca Cola bottle shape, shape, shape._

 _We got that sugar, do you wanna taste, taste, taste?_

 _We take it all around the globe_

 _Baby everywhere we go_

 _Make it hot when my mama arrives_

 _Shake, shake, shake_ "

Anderson clapped his hands and sang along and stomped his foot to the beat.

 _"Trrr, tra tranquila, pura Coca Cola, a dar tequila_

 _Hasta Romania, tu sabe que esto es magia_

 _Hoy gusto a Inna, el negocio Web miralias_

 _Entra tranquila, que tu no hace fila_

 _Sabe a cola cola, sabe a vitamina"_

Peter smiled at Anderson's dancing and singing in his native language. He joined, not as good as his friend though.

 _"Soy Latina baby_

 _Soy Latina baby_

 _Okay, let's party, say ole_

 _Soy Latina y la noche we own it, baby_

 _OK, let's party, say ole, ole"_

* * *

 **2:57pm** **  
**

**Wednesday**

 **May 16, 2015**

 **New York City, New York**

 **Avengers Tower**

* * *

"Sir, Ms. Potts is demanding that you let her in immediately." Tony heard his AI say in his accent. He sighed in resignation, knowing he wouldn't hear the end of it from her if he didn't let her in.

"Send her in, JARVIS." The genius said, as he cuts the blue wire and tying it to the red wire.

"Tony, what's the point of having an access code if it won't let me in." Pepper said, lips pulled down into a frown. "Anyway, I need you to sign this form, proving that you approve of the Era Initiative."

"Sure. Anything new happening with you and Happy?"

Pepper ducks her head down and smiles. "We decided to paint the extra room we have into a blue and pink design. After all, Johanna's visiting with her baby boy, Robert."

Tony hummed as he finished writing his signature. He gave the pen to Pepper and turned back to his invention.

"So, how was Death Angel last night?" Pepper asked, a knowing look in her eyes.

"He rejected my offer of hanging out with me." Tony pouted, not looking at the redhead.

"Did he say why he didn't want to 'hang out' with you?"

"Yeah, for some job meeting." Tony replies, crossing his arms.

"Oh-ho-ho, at least he takes his responsibilities seriously." Pepper tries to suppress her smile of amusement but she failed. Tony gave an indignant look at her muffled giggle.

"Is that all? Because I would love to go back to work." Tony said, grabbing a screwdriver.

"You should really tell him how you feel. Who knows? Maybe he loves you back." Pepper urged, rubbing Tony's shoulder.

"What if he doesn't? I rather have him a close friend than not a friend at all. Besides, he's dating someone." Tony mumbled, jealousy flaring as he remembers the double date Death Angel mentioned.

"Well, maybe it's just a fling." Pepper suggested.

"Now you're just making excuses." Tony gave a poker face. "Now, off you go. I have work to do."

Pepper sighed, turned on her heels and walked away.

* * *

 **4:08pm**

 **Wednesday**

 **May 16, 2015**

 **New York City, New York**

 **The Joint**

* * *

Anderson sighed in contentment as his dark eyes observed the other dancers and smiled when he saw Peter dancing with Liz Allan, who must've arrived when he wasn't looking.

"Hey, cute and handsome." Someone said from his right. He turned his head to see Josephine Seyor, a black-haired girl and blue eyes.

"Hey, Jo. Wasn't expecting to see you here." He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"I wanted to surprise you, honeybear." Jo sweetly smiled, reaching out for his hand.

"I'm sorry about last night." Anderson apologizes. "How did Liz and Petey take it?"

"It was awkward, to say the least. Everyone in the restaurant kept giving us looks. Because there are two girls and one boy at a four person table." Josephine said. "But we managed to play it off and act as if nothing was wrong."

Anderson smirked in amusement.

Josephine saw his smirk and smirked back with, "Which begs the question: why did you ditch and where did you go?"

"Technically, that's two questions." At her narrowed eyes, he continued, "An emergency came up last minute and I had to take care of it."

"What emergency?"

"I had to-" He was interrupted when a loud, terrified scream cut out through the music. The two turned to see at least, roughly, twenty men in red masks with automatic rifles in their hands.

"Everyone, down! Get down on the ground now!" A white masked man boomed, pointing his weapon at the nearest bystander.

Many people started to scream when they saw the guns.

One of the red masked men pushed a dancer to the floor. "DOWN! EVERYONE GET DOWN ON THE FLOOR IF YOU DON'T WANT TO DIE!"

The crowd started to lower to the ground, some still screaming.

Peter and Liz, as soon as they saw the masked men, quickly ran to Anderson and Josephine.

"What's happening?" Liz fearfully asked, holding onto Peter's hand tightly.

"I don't know." Josephine replied.

Anderson stared at the masked men blankly. He could sense there was something off about the man in the white mask.

* * *

 **4:15pm**

 **Wednesday**

 **May 16, 2015**

 **New York City, New York**

 **Avengers Tower**

* * *

"We just received news of a hostage situation in action at a club called The Joint. Twenty-two men in halloween masks had stormed into the club with automatic rifles and hasn't given a ransom. Let's hope nobody will be killed after this is over."

Steve Rogers muted the news segment and called out, "JARVIS, tell Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Iron Man to suit up."

"As you wish, Captain Rogers."

* * *

 **4:22pm**

 **Wednesday**

 **May 16, 2015**

 **New York City, New York**

 **The Joint**

* * *

The room was quiet, albeit there was a quiet whimpering and gasps from a few people. The masked men were walking around, making sure no one tries to rebel or escape.

"What do they want?" Liz whispered.

"I don't know. Nothing good, that's for sure." Peter said. "We need a way out of here."

"Peter, if we even try, they're going to kill us. And you want us killed so Death Angel can help everyone here? That's just cruel and unnecessary." Josephine furiously whispers, trying not to raise her voice.

Peter shook his head. "That's not what I'm saying. I meant that...we...well..."

"You got nothing, don't you?" Josephine said, glaring at the twenty-one year old.

"Do you have anything?" Peter retorted.

"Guys, not the time to be arguing if any of us have a plan. Right, Anderson?" Liz peers at the brunet, who's just sitting very still and a faraway look in his eyes.

Anderson snaps himself out of his trance when he hears his name. He blinks in confusion. "What?"

"Do you agree that none of us should be arguing if any one of us had a plan to get out of here?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah. But we shouldn't be planning on escape. We should be focusing on overpowering them." He jerked his head, referring to the intruders. "We just need to get their guns."

"How in the world are we going to do that? Twenty to four?" Peter asks, eyebrow raised.

Anderson opened his mouth but got interrupted by a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see a beautiful, red-haired woman.

"Hello, who are you four?" The woman ask while she scans the crowd.

"I'm Anderson Ruiz. He's Peter Parker. She's Liz Allen. And she's Josephine Seyor." Anderson pointed to each person he introduces, each giving a wave to the mysterious woman.

"You look familiar." Josephine said, nose scrunching up as she tries to remember where she's seen her before.

"Oh my gosh! You're Black Widow. From the Avengers." Liz squeaks. "Are the other Avengers here as well?" She looks out into the crowd, trying to spot the other heroes.

"Keep your eyes and voice down. We don't want to alarm them." Black Widow curtly said.

"Right. So, what do we do?" Peter questioned.

"You four, nothing. Let the professionals handle this."

"But-!"

"We can help."

"Not fair."

"What?"

The four protested but shut up when Black Widow snapped a menacing look at them. "Don't do anything that will risk everyone here. Am I understood?"

"Yes'm." Anderson quietly mouthed, nodding along with the other three.

"Stark, do your thing." Black Widow muttered, most likely talking into a comm. After she said that, the club's lights turned off, sending the whole room into darkness.

Anderson heard many thuds, thumps, smacks and cries of pain within the next few seconds.

"Ah!" An unknown masked man yelped. Something made a scratching noise as it slid across the floor when the man dropped to the floor. It hit Josephine on the knee.

Suddenly, the lights were turned on and once his eyes focused, Anderson saw all the men were down on the floor, either tied up or unconscious with Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Iron Man standing over them.

The crowd cheered as they saw the heroes.

Josephine smiled in relief as she saw there was no more danger. She turned to her boyfriend and hugged him. He hugged her back as he stared at the superhero team, in particularly, one high-tech hero. "We're fine now."

"Is everyone alright?" Captain America asked in a semi-deep voice. Many people nodded and started getting to their feet.

Peter helped Liz to her feet, both of them grinning.

Throughout all of this, the white masked was coming to his senses. He blearily opened his eyes and looks around. He catches sight of a light brown haired, dark brown eyed young man and he saw a dark, almost pitch black aura surrounding him. 'It's him. Must...finish the mission.'

He slowly and sneakily crawled to one of his men, who had a gun next to his foot. He grabbed it and pulled it closer to him.

No one noticed when the man grabbed the gun.

No one noticed when he inserted a clip into the gun.

But one noticed when he pointed the gun at his target.

Josephine glanced back and forth between the man and Anderson before understanding. She looks at Anderson, who noticed her erratic behavior and was about to question her about it.

Before he could, Josephine pushed him out of the way just as the white masked man fired his gun. Everyone ducked down when they heard the rapid gunshots.

When the gunfire ceased, Anderson looked up, to his horror, to see Josephine standing there, barely able to stay on her feet. There were many patches of blood on her torso, abdomen and legs. She fell to the ground in a heap.

"JOSEPHINE!" Anderson screams as he heard her dying scream in his head. He gathered her up into his arms, his vision blurry.

Josephine's eyes were closed and staying that way forever. Anderson sobbed as he held her closer, not caring about the blood spilling onto him nor about the pitying looks people gave him.


	3. Tell Me (Dropping Daylight)

**6:15am**

 **Friday**

 **November 13, 1999**

 **Big Bear Lake, Caifornia**

 **Deep in the forest**

* * *

"Anderson?!" A voice called from his right.

Anderson didn't face the voice in case it was just another hallucination. His eyes were scrunched closed tightly, refusing to open as he held the hem of his shirt to his still bleeding nose.

Two hands grabbed his shoulders and he hesitantly opened his eyes to see the _mujer policía_ from before kneeling before him. She peered down at him in concern. "Are you okay?"

He just stared at her emotionlessly. He let her pick him up into her arms and he was the quiet the whole way back to his house.

"Anderson, what happened to your nose?" The woman asked after a moment of silence. He stayed silent for a minute before saying his first and last English response.

"I was running to mama."

* * *

 **6:21am**

 **Friday**

 **November 13, 1999**

 **Big Bear Lake, Caifornia**

 **Two story House**

* * *

Victoria was in the bedroom she shared with her brother, packing some of her clothes and books into her bag when she heard, or rather saw the police woman, Jenny Sanchez as she recalls, carrying Anderson out of the forest.

Victoria quickly finished stuffing the shirt into her backpack and ran downstairs to greet them. She opened the front door and went down the front stairs.

"Anderson!" Victoria called as she ran up to them. Officer Sanchez set the four year old down and Victoria immediately checked over her brother, grimacing at the sight of the bloody nose. She wiped some of the blood away with the bottom of her shirt, Anderson unresponsive.

"Andy, you okay?" She asked quietly, staring at him worriedly. He glanced at her for a second before averting his eyes to the police car. He mutters, "Estoy bien, Tori."

Victoria holds in a sigh. She didn't want to see her brother depressed. She grabbed his hand and lead him to the house, Officer Sanchez trailing behind them while talking into her radio.

Anderson ignored the woman's chatter and walked a bit faster. He turned to his sister, frowning when he thought of something. "Qué va a pasar ahora?"

"I don't know, hermano. But we'll always be together." Victoria answered, her eyes like steel when she thought of who's going to be taking care of them from now on. She's known since she learned of their father's death.

"Always."

* * *

 **8:22pm**

 **Wednesday**

 **May 16, 2015**

 **New York City, New York**

 **Citystone Building Rooftop**

* * *

Death Angel was sitting on his and Tony's favorite rooftop, feeling emotional and emotionless at the same time. He wants to cry but can't cry at the same time.

He didn't think that could ever happen to a person. But obviously it can.

Death Angel heard a familiar thump and mechanical clicks from behind him. He didn't bother turning around because he knew who it was.

"Hey." Tony greeted, smiling as he sat down next to him. His smile faded when he saw Death Angel's eyes. He became worried for the screamer. "What's the matter?"

Death Angel closed his eyes and shook his head, trying to hold in his tears. His eyes cracked open slightly when he felt himself being pulled closer to Tony.

Tony hugs him close, his chin on top of his crush's head. He rubs the other's back comfortingly and rock them both back and forth gently. "I'm here for you. If you need to cry, don't be afraid to cry it out. You need to let it out."

Death Angel let out a sob at that. After that, he was absolutely gone. He was shaking and sobbing as he cried violently. He held onto Tony's arm tightly.

"She's...she's dead. She was right in front of me." He cries out in deep sorrow. "She died...saving me. She-she shouldn't have done that. I-I-I...I miss her. I loved her."

"Was she your girlfriend?" Tony asked, holding Death Angel impossibly closer to him. Death Angel whimpers and nod in response.

"I'm sorry. How...how'd she die?" Tony inquires.

Death Angel wasn't thinking about what he was saying when he said, "She took several bullets for me. We were at the Joint, a club downtown. Some men held us hostage and you and the Avengers came and rescued us and took out the men but one was still moving and he shot at me but Jo pushed me out of the way and bullets went through her and she was bleeding and she was gone. She's never coming back. Josephine slipped away."

Tony had stiffened after hearing his explanation. He remembers the boy screaming the girl's name after she got shot to death. Her boyfriend was Death Angel?

Tony pushed that information to the back of his mind in favor of calming his Angel down. "Shhhh. It won't be easy but what's important is that you don't forget her because if you do forget her, then she's truly dead."

Death Angel pulled away, eyes red and gave Tony an raised eyebrow look.

"I know, a cliché." Tony comments. Death Angel leans back into Tony's protective embrace and lets out a deep exhale. He says, "Thank you for...for staying with me and letting me cry on you. I think I may have left a puddle of tears on your shirt, though."

He examines the billionaire's shirt and finds a slightly dark spot on it. "Yep. There's a puddle."

Tony shrugs it off. "It's a shirt, I can always change it. And you're welcome. I'm here for you whenever you need me, Angel."

Death Angel hummed and nodded. "Also, vice versa."

Tony smiles and lightly nuzzles his Angel's head. He looks down at him and speaks, "Would you like to come to the tower? Watch depressing movies to fit the mood? Or eat some ice cream? Or just stay here and cry some more?"

"Can we have an iCarly marathon? It was one of my favorite Nickelodeon shows, along with Victorious, Big Time Rush, Drake & Josh, and Zoey 101. A lot of nostalgia of them and-and her." Anderson said. Tony gives him an confused look and he noticed. He gasped and wiped at his eyes. He jerked from the hug and looked at Tony in shock. "You've never seen these shows before?"

"I've been a busy man and watching Nick shows wasn't one of them." Tony admitted, sheepishly. Death Angel gapes at him, eyes wide. He says in a low voice, "What a cruel world we live in. Come on, get your suit on and let us go to Avengers Tower, so you can catch up on your lost years of childhood."

"Okay, pushy and bossy." Tony said in fake annoyance before he stood up, pulling Death Angel up with him. He stepped into the armor and pulled the screamer into his arms. He started up his jet boots and they both flew off to Avengers Tower.

* * *

 **9:07pm**

 **Wednesday**

 **May 16, 2015**

 **New York City, New York**

 **Avengers Tower**

* * *

 ***Thud***

 ***Thud***

 ***Thud***

Hits against the punching bag echoed through the room as Steve repeatedly punched it with most of his enhanced strength.

Failed. He failed the rescue mission. A rescue mission is successful when not one person dies. The girl, Josephine Seyor, died because he wasn't paying attention to the criminals.

"Captain Rogers, Mister Parker is here to see you." JARVIS cut in mid-punch. Steve gives the bag one more punch and walks to the bench at the wall. He took a bottle of water and said, "Tell him I'll meet him in the living room floor in a few minutes."

"I will, Captain Rogers." JARVIS responds before becoming silent.

Steve took a swig of water and went into the locker room to change. He remembers that Peter was also at the club.

What if it was him that got killed?

Steve doesn't think he'll ever recover if that happened. Peter was the first friend he made outside of SHIELD and the Avengers.

They met during one of Steve's runs through Central Park. Peter had accidentally pushed Steve into the lake that resided in the park. He had apologized profusely and Steve only laughed and brushed it off. Steve asked him a few days later if he wanted to have lunch together and Peter agreed. They became friends since then.

After finished dressing in a pale blue muscle shirt and gray sweatpants, he headed upstairs to the living room, where Avengers usually have game or movie nights, sometimes having Death Angel there as well as Spider-Man, once he overcame his trust issues.

Peter was talking Tony and Death Angel, more like talking to Tony while Death Angel was sitting on the couch and has a hand covering his eyes, when the supersoldier got there.

Peter turned to Steve when he noticed him and smiled, making Steve's face warm slightly. "Hey, Steve."

"Hi, Peter. What do you want? Not that I don't want you here, I-I'm asking why you are here so late at night." Steve stammered out.

"I've had a tough day and I know you know I was at the Joint today...when it happened." Peter's eyes averted down to the ground as he remembers.

"Was she your friend?" Steve asked gently. Peter nodded.

Death Angel let out a breathy exhale, hands pressed against the sides of his head, staring down at the ground. Peter and Steve look at him in confusion and worry. They forgot about the other two in the room.

Tony strides over to Death Angel and sat next to him. He wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close, nearly similar to the position they were in before on the rooftop.

"JARVIS, put on the first episode of...what did you call it? iCarly?" Tony asked, Death Angel nodding. "Put it on for us please."

"Ooooo, I love iCarly! It's one of my favorite tv shows." Peter grinned, taking a seat on the nearest couch, Steve following his example. He turned to Steve. "I'm assuming you never watched this show?"

"And you assume right." Steve confirmed.

"Then you're in for a culture shock." Death Angel murmured, looking up at the screen as the show starts. Steve gave Tony an questioning look and he gave a minute shake of his head before leaning back, Death Angel's head sliding down to his lap.

* * *

 **5:58am**

 **Thursday**

 **May 17, 2015**

 **New York City, New York**

 **Avengers Tower**

* * *

Death Angel slowly opened his eyes to a iCarly episode in low volume, iQuit iCarly, where they're showing The Blowing fanmade trailer. He rolled over and saw Tony dozing, his head tilted back towards the ceiling.

He looked around and saw Steve and Peter sleeping on the other couch, Peter was cuddled against Steve's side.

 _There was something wrong here._

Death Angel slowly and quietly, as to not disturb Tony's slumber, sat up.

"Hehehehehe" echoes from the nearby hallway. Death Angel squints his eyes in suspicion and stands up. He carefully treads to the corridor and peers into it, expecting the worst.

There was nothing.

He narrows his eyes and he turned to glance at the three sleeping forms but he found that they weren't there. He recoils in shock and pivots to the hallway.

A familiar lady was standing in the middle of the hallway, her back facing away from him. She had black hair, and she was wearing a strapless pale blue sundress with red floral designs.

She starts walking away, her heels clacking loudly in the empty hall.

Death Angel chased after her. "Hey! Wait!"

The woman didn't stop, just kept on going as if she can't hear him. He pumped his arms as he ran faster.

She turned the corner and Death Angel follows suit but when he did, she was gone.

"No. No. No." He breathlessly repeated, quietly at first but slowly getting louder. "No. No. No. No. No! _No_! **NO**!"

He was tired of this. Tired of the dying. Tired of living.

Death Angel tore off his mask, he was-no, _Anderson_ is done with the constant confusion, he just wants at least one normal thing to happen in his life and that had come in the form of Josephine Seyor. But she's gone and now...he has no one.

The white walls was becoming blurred and closing in on him. He fell to his knees limply and landed on his back.

Anderson felt his body starting to become numb and before he fell under, he caught sight of the woman from before.

He could see her clearly now. Green eyes stared into his, her lips upturned in a gentle smile.

He managed to say, "Tori?" before he heard a scream and he stopped moving altogether.

* * *

 **6:09am**

 **Thursday**

 **May 17, 2015**

 **New York City, New York**

 **Avengers Tower**

* * *

Tony was startled awake when he heard a ear-piercing scream. He glanced around frantically, saw that Steve and Peter were also awake and noticed that Death Angel wasn't in the room.

"JARVIS, what was that?!" Tony demanded.

"It was Death Angel, Sir. He has collapsed in the eastern wing. Would you like me to call Doctor Cho?" JARVIS asked, the three men scrambling for the hallway.

"Yes!" Steve answered as he ran.

After turning the first corner, they were met with the sight of Death Angel. He was unconscious but he didn't look right.

His eyes were wide _open_.

Not only that but he wasn't wearing his mask and they saw who he really was.

"Anderson?" Peter gasp in shock.


	4. Fallen Angel (Three Days Grace)

**8:01am**

 **Thursday**

 **May 17, 2015**

 **New York City, New York**

 **Avengers Tower**

 **Medical Bay**

* * *

"Soooo...what's wrong with him?" Clint asked from his perch on a vacant table. All of the Avengers, plus Peter and Dr. Helen Cho, were all in the med bay, trying to figure out what's wrong with Death Angel.

Dr. Helen Cho and Bruce Banner were checking Anderson's (who actually turned out to be Death Angel) vitals.

"We don't know." Helen answers absentmindedly, tapping on the Stark tablet.

"Yet." Bruce interjected, noticing the upset look Tony gave. "We don't know _yet_."

"Why are the Angel of Death's eyes open if he's not awake?" Thor asked, blond head cocked to the side, bewildered at Anderson's vacant staring up at the ceiling.

"I've heard about this. This is Catatonia or Catatonic stupor." Peter pipes up. "It's a condition in which a person lacks critical cognitive functioning and is unresponsive to stimulation other than pain. Its symptoms are staring, withdrawal, rigidity, echolalia and echopraxia. Echolalia is basically repeating a person's speech and echopraxia is repeating other's movements."

"So, basically he's just a soulless puppet without strings." Clint comments. Natasha smacks him upside the head and he yelps.

"What do we do to wake him up?" Tony questions urgently, silently pleading there is a way to help Angel.

"Based on what Peter explained, I don't think we can." Helen says sympathetically. Tony's felt his heart drop to his stomach. "Anderson did this to himself. He can undo this himself."

"In the meantime, we can only be here for him until he's ready to wake up." Bruce stated quietly, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"And we will have a mighty celebration when he does." Thor joyfully said after a beat of an uneasy silence. Steve uneasily nodded, not knowing what to say.

Tony shuffles to the comatose body on the bed and places a hand on the bed railing. He looks into his Angel's eyes and he sees no emotion.

* * *

 **8:04am**

 **Thursday**

 **May 17, 2015**

 **New York City, New York**

 **Avengers Tower**

 **Medical Bay**

* * *

What's happening?

Anderson couldn't move or speak. He could hear everything that was going on around him but can't do anything.

"Freaky, huh?" It was her again.

Tori.

Victoria Ruiz.

The one person he would expect to meet at his deathbed.

"You're not dead, Andy." Tori giggled from her post next to Tony, who was sadly staring into his eyes.

That surprised him. _How did she know that?_

"Because I'm in your head. Everyone out here can't see me but you."

 _Why can't he move?_

"Because I can't let you go just yet." Tori simply said. "I need you to come home."

But he doesn't want to go back. Go back to the one place that started the chain of events that lead up to him being Death Angel.

"Don't you want to know the truth?" Tori asks. "To know what happened to Papi and Mama?"

 _Wh-what did she mean by that?_

"Not everything was as it seems back then, hermano."

 _Let me go._

"I can't."

 _Let me go._

"Not until I'm sure that you'll go back home in California."

 _Just...let me go._

* * *

 **4:42pm**

 **Thursday**

 **November 12, 2015**

 **New York City, New York**

* * *

Six months.

Six months since Josephine's death.

Six _**freaking**_ months since Anderson became catatonic.

Six months since Liz broke up with Peter.

That was a blow to his heart when she did.

 _"I'm sorry, Peter. I just can't do this. This city is not safe and people are dying without reason."_

For a month, Peter moped and sulked about it. He became Spider-Man more often and took out anger and sadness out on the bad guys.

He missed them. Both Anderson Ruiz and Death Angel.

Sure, he found out who Death Angel was but it didn't mean he doesn't miss his crime-fighting partner.

Peter was sure he wasn't the only one missing Death Angel.

Steve's taken to drawing next to Anderson's bedside and telling him stories of his time in the 1900s.

Bruce always makes sure that he is properly fed and constantly tries to get him to say something that's not repeated.

Thor, when he is around, would babble about the joys of pop-tarts and how he can draw a turkey with just his hand.

Natasha would tell him about their latest missions when she's not busy being in her own undercover missions.

Clint would walk throughout the tower with him and play subtle pranks on unsuspecting team members.

Peter played Anderson's favorite music and movies. He also shows him the photos he's taken throughout the day.

Tony...well, he was the worst of all. He stayed by his side 24/7. Only time he wasn't by his side is when they're called to help the city. He would work on his inventions in there and watch the movies Peter put on.

Peter knew about Tony's feelings for Death Angel but doesn't know about his feelings for Anderson. Tony is in love with Anderson's alter-ego, not really Anderson himself.

Peter can only hope that he falls in love with both.

* * *

 **4:50pm**

 **Thursday**

 **November 12, 2015**

 **New York City, New York**

 **Avengers Tower**

 **Medical Bay**

* * *

"Okay, let's do this again." Bruce spoke, sitting in a stool across from Anderson and holding a clipboard in the cradle of his arm.

"...let's do this again." Anderson mumbled, echoing Bruce.

Bruce glanced at Tony, who was sitting at a table, tinkering with a jet boot of his Iron Man suit.

"Anderson, answer this question." Bruce started. "Do you know where you are?"

"Do you know where you are?"

Bruce held in a frustrated groan and ran a hand through his messy hair. He looks at his notes on his clipboard. They were mainly about the attempts he made to try to bring Anderson, all failed trials.

"Here, let me try." Tony nodded, striding over and sat down next to Bruce. "Anderson, what's my name?"

There was no echo or answer.

Then Anderson whispered so quietly that the other two couldn't hear.

"What did you say?" Bruce inquired, hoping that it wasn't an echo. Tony leaned forward in anticipation.

The medical bay's doors opened and in walked the whole Avengers team, plus Peter.

"Any news?" Steve asked upon seeing the expectant looks on the two's faces.

Tony shushed them and turned back to Anderson. "Do you know who I am?"

The room was deathly silent as they waited for the answer.

"...To...To..." Anderson muttered, saying something different for once. "...Tori..."

"Who's Tori?" Clint tilted his head slightly.

"...Tori...please...let me go..." Anderson said. Everyone gave him confused looks.

"I don't think he's talking to us. He's actually talking to this Tori person." Bruce marveled in slight fascination. He turned to Peter. "Did Anderson ever mention a 'Tori' to you before, Peter?"

Peter shook his head. "No, but come to think of it, I don't really know that much about his past."

Anderson stood up suddenly, startling everyone. "Tori...let me go...I promise...I'll go...if you'll just let me go..."

"Go where?" Steve asked, eyebrows furrowed. Anderson looked at the supersoldier with a very alert look in his eyes that Tony hasn't in a long time.

"Home." With that said, Anderson started to walk towards the doors. Peter rushed forward and grabbed his shoulders, stopping him. "Whoa whoa whoa! Anderson, are you awake? Like, right now?"

Anderson turned to face him and slowly nodded. "Yes but I need to go...and you can't stop me."

He reeled in his hands and launched them forward, screaming very loudly as he does. Peter was sent flying to the other side of the room and everyone surrounding covered their ears.

The screaming stopped and they all looked at Anderson in shock.

But he was gone from sight.

* * *

 **3:20am**

 **Friday**

 **November 13, 2015**

 **Big Bear Lake, Caifornia**

 **Deep in the forest**

* * *

"You've arrived at your destination, sir." An automatic voice said from a speaker next to Anderson's head, waking him up.

After Anderson escaped from the Avengers' medical bay, he had gone to the roof and miraculously found a Quinjet. That was a lucky break.

He gave the ship coordinates to his old home in California and he had fallen asleep mid-flight.

Anderson stretched and yawned, rubbing his eyes. He unbuckled his seatbelt and the rear door opened. He exited to see the night sky and lots of trees around. It struck a familiarity chord in him and it fills him with nostalgia.

A twig snapped and he flinched, turning to where the sound came from.

A fox trotted out her cubs following her. She noticed him and swishes her tail, warning him not to get closer. He holds up his hands and walks in the opposite direction.

"Well, it was about time you came to your senses." Victoria said from his right. Anderson jumped and turns to her in surprise. He gives her an offended look.

"Oh, sorry. Wrong choice of words." Victoria apologized.

"Mmm-hmm. So what's going to happen now?"

"Nothing. We're just visiting the past." Tori said.

"Actually, _I_ am visiting the past. You're just my illusion."

"Am I?" Tori quips. "Am I, really?"

Anderson rolls his eyes and he realizes he's at the edge of the forest, the two story house a few feet away.

He looks at Tori, who's smiling brightly at the sight of their old home. She cheers, "Home sweet home!"

She stops cheering when Anderson didn't move. She noted that his eyes were tightly shut and he was gritting his teeth together, as if he was in pain.

"Andy? What's wrong?"

Everything was blurring together and he couldn't see clearly anymore.

He gasps...

* * *

 **12:06pm**

 **Friday**

 **November 13, 1999**

 **Big Bear Lake, California**

 **Memorial Hospital**

 **5th floor, South Wing, Room 207**

* * *

The hall was silent as the Ruiz siblings traveled to room 207 at the end of the hall, the officer behind them.

"Well, this is the room, children. Go on in. She's happy to see you." Sanchez gently said. Victoria nodded and held onto her younger brother's hand as they enter the dimly lit room.

There was one bed, an old television set, and curtain. On the bed, there laid a beautiful woman. She had black hair, an astonishing combination of green and gray eyes, pale skin and she had an tattoo on her uncovered shoulder of a silhouetted fox.

"Mama?" Victoria called to her quietly. The woman turned head at the sound of her voice. Her face broke out into a smile.

"Victoria, Anderson. Come here and give mama a hug." She opened her arms. Victoria ran into them and squeezes her tightly. Mama reaches a hand out for Anderson to take. " Ven aquí, mi hijo."

"Murió papi, mama." Anderson cried out.

"I know, my son. But he's not gone. He's looking over us in Cielo now." Mama sadly says. "Now, come here. Take my hand."

Anderson hesitantly take a tiny step forward but stops himself.

"Anderson, por favor. Take my hand and don't let go." Mama pleads. Victoria looks at him and they lock eyes. She knows what he's going to do before it happens.

Anderson backs away and runs out of the room, crying quietly. Sanchez gave a yelp of surprise when he came out of nowhere.

"Andy." Victoria mutters. She turns to her mama, and saw her tearfully looking at where her son was standing.

"Tell him I loved him and that Papa and I are sorry we never told him for me. Please, Victoria." Mama begs. "Promise that you will."

"I promise, mama."

* * *

 **3:59am**

 **Friday**

 **November 13, 2015**

 **Big Bear Lake, California**

 **Two story House**

* * *

"Andy?"

Tori's voice broke through his memory and he blinked.

"I just remembered mama." Anderson said.

"Hello?" A voice cried out from the house. Anderson snapped his head up in shock at the house. He was about to go back into the woods but a light spotted him before he could.

"Who are you? You're trespassing on private property!" The young man called to him in a Spanish accent. Anderson refrained from saying it's nobody's property. "I demand to know who you are!"

"Anderson Ruiz! My name is Anderson Ruiz!" He called back. The man got closer but Anderson couldn't make out what he looked like.

"Ruiz? I never heard that name around these parts before. Where ya from?"

"Here. I used to live here seventeen years ago." Anderson answer, the man a few feet away now.

"Really? Because last I heard, no one lived in this house for thirty years before I moved in."

Now a feet away, Anderson could see what he looked like and his jaw dropped. "What the hell?"

The young man had light brown hair, dark brown eyes, a bit taller than Anderson and tanned skin. It was like he was looking into a mirror.

The other guy gasped in shock when he got a good look at Anderson's face. "Why do you look exactly like me?"

"Why do _you_ look like me?"

"Well, isn't it nice to have a lost family reunion?" Tori cooes. Anderson slowly turns to her, dumbfounded before turning back to his lookalike.

"Are we twins?" He asks quietly.

"Seems so." The other man returned in a neutral tone, still reeling from the fact he either might have a doppelganger or more horrifying, a long-lost twin brother.


	5. We Are One In The Same

**4:55pm**

 **Friday**

 **November 13, 2015**

 **New York City, New York**

 **Avengers Tower**

 **Medical Bay**

* * *

Peter groaned when he felt his back hit the floor. He opened his eyes to everyone staring at Anderson's empty spot.

"What just happened?" Clint ask in disbelief.

"JARVIS, locate Anderson now." Tony demanded, grabbing a nearby tablet.

"He has taken the quinjet on the roof, Sir." JARVIS stated. "He has input coordinates into the navigation system."

"Well, tell the ship to turn around." Clint said, frowning.

"The ship is not accepting my request." JARVIS said, in a hint of an apologetic tone.

"What are the ship's coordinates?" Tony inquired. "If we can't get it to turn around, we could follow it."

"The coordinates are 34.2439° N, 116.9114° W." JARVIS cited. "Big Bear Lake, California, to be exact."

"Why is Anderson going all the way to the other side of the country?" Peter asked, confusion apparent on his face.

"I don't know but let's get a move on if we're going to catch up with him." Steve ordered, slipping into 'Captain America' mode.

"I'll go ahead in the suit. It'll be much faster." Tony said, heading out the door quickly before anyone (*cough* Capsicle *cough*) could stop him.

* * *

 **6:03am**

 **Friday**

 **November 13, 2015**

 **Big Bear Lake, California**

 **Two story House**

 **Living Room**

* * *

It was...awkward and tense to say the least.

Anderson sat on the couch in the living room while his 'twin'- Miguel - was making coffee in the kitchen. The television was on low volume, showing a crime show. NCIS: Los Angeles if Anderson cared enough to identify it, which he did not.

"Would you like some sugar in the coffee?" Miguel called from the kitchen.

"Yeah."

"Okay."

It was silent after that, with the exception of the gunshots coming from the television.

Anderson looked around the room, memories coming back to him. He glanced at the bay window across the room.

Papa always read bedtime stories to Tori and him in that window before his Mama got sick. These stories weren't exactly your average bedtime stories. They were all about the Angels, the protectors of mythical creatures and humans. There were many kinds of Angels: Spirit Angel, Light Angel, Life Angel, Song Angel, Blood Angel, and many more.

Each Angel had different abilities that is never copied by others. There are Angels that are directly opposite to another. Take the Light Angel and Dark Angel for example. Light Angel is known for its positive powers of bringing light into dark places, figuratively and literally. Dark Angel is known for bringing darkness into the world. But you know what they say, "Opposites attract". One can't be without the other; they complete each other.

"Here you go." Miguel's voice brought him out of his distant musing, holding out a mug of hot coffee for him. Anderson smiled his thanks, taking the 'I Cali' mug from him.

"So, when did you move in?" Anderson asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

"I moved here, just over two years ago." Miguel answer. "This place was very rundown and I thought I could make it lively."

Miguel huffed amusedly. "The real estate agent, who sold me the place, said nobody lived here in thirty years. Why did she lie? I mean, now that I think about it, she seemed very eager to sell it to me."

"Yeah, that is mysterious." Anderson's eyebrows furrowed in wonder. "What was her name? Maybe we could ask her." He took a swig of his coffee.

"I think her name was Victoria Ruiz." Miguel said. Anderson's eyes widen and started coughing, choking on his coffee.

"Whoa, what did I say?" Miguel say, patting Anderson hard on the back. "Wait, you said your last name was...and Victoria...oohhhhh."

Anderson finally got over his coughing fit and exhaled deeply. "Yes, Victoria Ruiz is my sister. And you are taking me to her."

"Okay but there might be a problem about that. She's...I know that you won't like to hear this...well, she..."

"Spit it out, man."

"...dead."

* * *

 **6:30am**

 **Friday**

 **November 13, 2015**

 **Big Bear Lake, California**

 **Decay Cemetery**

* * *

Anderson stood over a grave. It said:

 **Here lies Victoria Teresa Ruiz**

 **05/21/1989-05/22/2015**

 **Loving wife, devoted mother, wonderful daughter and brilliant sister**

 **She will be missed**

Miguel hesitated before setting a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry about Victoria."

"It's just cruel." Anderson sniffled, a tear slowly falling down his cheek. "Now, my whole family is dead. I'm the only Ruiz left."

"Not entirely. You got me."

Anderson gave him a wistful smile. "Yeah, guess I do. But I'm not entirely sure we're actually biological _hermanos_."

"Want to take a blood test? Only way we can know for sure." Miguel suggests, shrugging his shoulders.

Anderson thought it over and he came to a decision. "Sí."

Miguel held his elbow to him and Anderson glanced at it. He gave a tiny smile and he links his elbow with the extending limb.

As they travel down the hill, Miguel looks at his (possible) brother. "So, tell me. What's your life like before this?"

"Let's see. I moved to New York when I was ten with Victoria and our foster family. When Victoria turned eighteen and I was thirteen, she went to MIT and I went to Lowtown Middle. It's where I met my best friend, I guess you could say, Peter Parker."

"And that's it? There has to be more. If not, then you've got to be the most boring person to ever exist." Miguel snickers, covering his smile.

"I am not boring, _chico_." Anderson retorts, elbowing his side.

"Really? Prove it, _poco hombre_!"

"All right. This one time, Peter and-"

Anderson never got to finish his sentence when he heard, "Anderson!"

He looked up to see Peter and all of the Avengers standing in the parking lot, next to Miguel's motorcycle.

"...and Anderson?" Peter says, mouth slightly open in shock. Peter's eyes flashes between them, bewildered. Tony stepped forward.

"Huh, turns out you do have an interesting life if the Avengers are involved!" Miguel turned to Anderson. "How do they know you?"

"Guys, this is Miguel Garcia. Miguel, this is Peter Parker and the whole Avengers team." Anderson introduced. He sheepishly smiles at them. "It looks like I might have a twin brother."

"Ain't that a cliché?" Clint remarks.

* * *

 **7:04am**

 **Friday**

 **November 13, 2015**

 **Big Bear Lake, California**

 **Two story House**

 **Living Room**

* * *

"Coffee, anyone?" Miguel offered. Most shook their heads, no.

"No thanks." Peter declined.

"Espresso for me, please." Anderson said.

"I'll have what he's having." Tony points at Anderson. Miguel nodded and set out into the kitchen.

When Miguel was out of earshot, Peter rounded on Anderson. "Would you like to explain what happened back in the tower?"

Anderson sighed deeply and sat down on the couch. "I was in a confused state. I was on...'pilot' mode, you could say. Doing it without thinking. I was waking up, both physically and mentally."

"Continue." Peter crossed his arms.

"It wasn't my choice to go all 'catatonic' on you guys. It was Tori who made me like that."

"By the way, who's she? And who is this Miguel person?" Tony questions, tapping his fingers on his leg.

"Tori is Victoria Ruiz. She's my sister. She was like me but different, power wise. She was the Desire Angel, she could use the shapeshift ability to change form."

"How come you never told me about this, Andy?" Peter asked, sitting on the other side of his friend.

"What was there to tell? I doubted you would believe me and I know you know you wouldn't, so don't tell me that you would've." Anderson sharply replied.

"Where's Victoria now?" Steve ask.

Anderson looks up at him with a frown. "Why do you think we were at the cemetery, Steve?"

He waited a few seconds to let the implication sink in before going on. "She died, five days after I became catatonic."

"Okay, two espressos are ready." Miguel called out, treading into the living room with two cups of coffee in his hands. He handed one to Tony and the other to Anderson.

"Thanks." Tony nodded. Miguel faintly smiled in return.

"And also, how do you know the Avengers?" Miguel asked, still not believing there are superheroes in his living room.

"Uuuuhhhh..." Anderson glanced at Tony and Bruce, unsure if he should tell him.

"Let me guess, do you work for Mr. Stark in Avengers Tower? Like an assistant?" Miguel rattles off, excited.

"Not exactly. More like a hero partner."

"Hero partner? Wait, are you Spider-Man or Death Angel?" Miguel asks. "You don't look like you have the kind of body Spider-Man has. You're Death Angel, aren't you?"

"Yeeaahh." Anderson drones out, a bit offended and self-aware of his body.

"Is that why you came here? Because of your powers? I've heard about all the types of Angels of Protection. You have precognition. You can predict future deaths that are around you and you will sometimes see illusions of the victim before it happens or hearing things that others can't." Miguel ramble. "And sometimes, your scream could allow you to hear the sounds better, other than the predicting death with your scream thing."

"Wow. You've done a lot of research about this." Clint speaks.

"So, Miguel is the reason why you came here, Anderson?" Bruce said.

"Well, not entirely. I didn't even know I had a brother until Tori forced me to come here." Anderson said. "Illusion Tori, not the real her. She told me to come here to find out what happened to my parents."

At the sight of Miguel about to speak, Anderson hurried on. "Papa died of a wild animal attack. He was mauled to death. Mama died of throat cancer. They both died on the same day."

There was silence in the room at the news.

Tony hung an arm around Anderson's neck and pulled him into a one-armed hug. Anderson grabbed and squeezes his hand to show his thanks. "I'm sorry about your parents, Angel."

"It's alright." Anderson quietly say.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Miguel said loudly. At everyone's confused looks, he elaborated. "Tori sent you here for a reason, Andy. To find out what happened to your parents. What if your parents' deaths weren't as they seemed? They could've been _murdered,_ for all we know and Tori is asking you to find their killers."

"You're saying we should start up an investigation into two deaths like CSI?" Natasha raises an eyebrow at him. Miguel lowers his head. "Yeah, basically."

"Alright." Anderson said. Miguel turned to him in surprise. "What's the worst that could happen out of this?"

"You know, you shouldn't say things like that." Tony said, looking at Anderson with a smirk.

"Do you not watch movies?!" Miguel, Tony and Peter asked in sync.


	6. We (Really Should) Expect The Unexpected

**7:32am**

 **Friday**

 **November 13, 2015**

 **Big Bear Lake, California**

 **Two story House**

 **Living Room**

* * *

"What should we do first?" Miguel asked, looking at Anderson, who was sitting in the bay window. Peter stood close to him, arms crossed.

"I guess we should start with Officer Sanchez." Anderson said, fidgeting with his sleeve.

"The officer that delivered the news about your father's death, right?" Miguel asked.

"Yes." Anderson confirmed. He turned to Bruce, who was sitting in the recliner. "Bruce, do you think you can do a blood test for Miguel and I?"

"I do work in biochemistry. It's an easy job." He nodded.

"I can help, too." Peter added, looking at Bruce.

"I have a few medical tools and such in the upstairs den." Miguel said. "Be free to use them."

Bruce nodded his thanks and started to head upstairs, Peter and Natasha silently following him.

"Tony, can you, Steve, Thor and Clint go to the Memorial Hospital and check the medical records of Andrea Ruiz?" Anderson questioned.

"What are you and Miguel going to do?" Tony countered.

"We're going to talk to Sanchez, ask her some questions." Anderson answered.

"Alright, Clint, Thor and I will take the hospital. Tony's going with you two." Steve said, pointedly looking at Anderson, silently telling him not to argue.

An unsettling feeling formed in Anderson's chest and he quickly said, "But Tony will be of much help to you guys. He could always hack into the Hospital's medical database and get Andrea's files if they refuse."

"You can't exactly fight against that logic." Clint said, a little smirk on his face.

Tony gave Anderson a worried look, his eyes lingering on his hand. Miguel noticed, raising an eyebrow in mild confusion.

Steve pursed his lips in reluctant resignation. "Fine. We meet back here when it's over."

Everyone nodded and they left.

* * *

 **8:03am**

 **Friday**

 **November 13, 2015**

 **Big Bear Lake, California**

 **BBL Police Station**

* * *

"Okay, we're here." Miguel declares, climbing off his motorcycle.

Anderson took off his helmet and set it on the handlebars, looking up at the semi-grand building in front of them. "Well, it's not much to look at."

"Don't judge until you have at least seen the inside." Miguel said. Anderson only shrugs, indifferent.

They went inside to see a busy lobby, people bustling about and a lot of phones ringing.

"Yeah, it's really not that much to look at." Miguel said, moving out of the way of a running woman carrying a box in her hands.

"Come on. I think that's the front desk." Anderson pointed at the big desk at the other side of the room, sidestepping an oncoming cart.

"Excuse me, miss?" Miguel called to the receptionist when he got there first. The woman peers at him over the pile of folders in front of her.

"May I help you?" She asked, not bothering to show interest.

"Yes, we're looking for Officer Jenny Sanchez." Anderson said.

"She's out on duty. Patrolling the BBL grand park." The woman stated, glaring at them.

"Thanks." Anderson said dryly. He walked away, Miguel following him, both trying not to bump into other people.

A gust of cold air brushed against Miguel's face when he stepped outside and the temperature around him continued to decrease the more further he got from the building. His body started to shiver as he scrunches his nose in confusion. "Was it this cold when we came here?"

"What do you mean?" Anderson asked, coming to a stop next to the black motorcycle, and turned to him, noticing the shivering. "It's hot out here. How can you be cold?"

"I don't know but I'm most certainly not feeling any warmness." Miguel stated, feeling the cold get stronger, making his teeth start to bang together.

Anderson suddenly heard, or rather, feel his heartbeat go faster when he grabs Miguel's hand to feel it. It's like touching liquid nitrogen with no special gloves on. He snaps his hand back and stares at the other in shock. Miguel's lips are starting to turn blue and he was becoming horribly pale.

* * *

 **8:10am**

 **Friday**

 **November 13, 2015**

 **Big Bear Lake, California**

 **BBL Police Station**

 **Parking Lot**

* * *

Miguel couldn't feel himself breathe.

Wait a minute.

Is that a thing? Feeling yourself breathe? You could actually feel yourself breathe with your hand on your chest, sure. But...

...he doesn't have a hand on his chest. So, saying he couldn't feel himself breathe was a wrong thing to say.

Great, now he's becoming delusional with the lack of oxygen to the brain. Way to go, stupid brain.

"Miguel?" A distorted, far-away voice.

Who was the voice?

Eh, doesn't matter.

What matters is the guy who's missing a large chunk of his chest and half his face standing a few feet away.

Cool.

Miguel giggles, smiling for a moment before it disappeared.

Wait another minute, _reader_.

The man is awfully out of place since Miguel is standing next to his lookalike, who is _not missing any parts of his body_.

 **Ha-ha**

The man stumbles closer, the temperature around him just bursting with freezing ice.

Miguel steps back, only to be pulled forward and snapped out of it, his eyes focusing on Anderson's worried expression. He glances at their joined hands and distinctly hears tires squealing away.

"Are you okay?" Anderson asks worriedly. "You nearly got hit by truck!"

"Oh, yeah." Miguel's eyes looks at where the heavily injured man is and...yep, still there, slowly getting closer to the duo. "Do...do you see him?"

Miguel pointed to where the man is and Anderson turns to see no bleeding man standing there. "No. Who's 'him'? What does he look like?"

"I-I think he's dead. Probably seeing his ghost or spirit or whatever, seeing him as how he died." Miguel felt another wave of cold air breeze against him. "He's coming closer to me."

"Maybe he wants something from...you?" Anderson said, coming out in the form of a question. "Is he speaking?"

The man was just a foot away now, staring at Miguel with a sad and longing look.

"No. I think he wants me to do something." Miguel bit his lip, the man a solid inch away. His body is breaking into a cold sweat, and his teeth were practically slamming against each other.

"Maybe you're just like me."

Miguel whips his head to Anderson with a confused and questioning look on his face.

"Like you? How could I..." He trailed off, realization punching him in his frozen stomach. "I'm the Heaven Angel, aren't I?"

"Looks like it. Seeing ghosts and basically becoming a human icicle." Anderson said. "The Heaven Angel helps the ghosts left behind on Earth move on."

"That's what I gotta do. Help this ghost move on." Miguel said, excitedly. "So, how do I help him move on?"

"I don't have a clue. Try touching him or rather, have him touch you."

Miguel nodded and looks at the man standing patiently next to him. He made to grab the ghost's shoulder but the man grabs the outstretched hand.

Miguel closed his eyes at the sudden flash of bright light. When he opens them again, the man was gone and so was the cold.

"He's gone!" Miguel cried, triumphantly. "I think he moved on!" He turned to the screamer. "I did it!"

"Nice job, Miguel. Now, let's go and find Jenny Sanchez." Anderson said, grabbing a motorcycle helmet and putting it on.

"Okay. But hold on, I've never been able to do that before." Miguel said. "Why can I do that now?"

"You know the story. Angel's powers always manifest at a random time. You could have it at two years old or eighty years old. It doesn't matter." Anderson shrugged.

Miguel swung one leg over the motorcycle and straddles the seat, putting on the helmet as he does so. "So, when did you get your powers?"

"When I was four, a few months after everything that happened here." Anderson replies. Miguel started up the motorcycle and Anderson hopped on behind him.

"If we are biological twins and we had the same parents and sister, what were they like?" Miguel asked, driving out of the parking lot.

"Mama, Papa and Victoria were all Angels, like us. And believe it or not, Papa was the previous Death Angel and Mama was the previous Heaven Angel." Anderson explains, smiling a little.

"So, we're their reincarnations, so to speak." Miguel concludes.

"Huh, I guess so." Anderson muses.

"Tell me about Tori." Miguel made a right turn onto Salia Avenue.

"She was the Desire Angel. She was able to turn into anyone, like transforming into me or into random people. Tori got her powers when she was ten."

"That's awesome. I wonder why..." Miguel glances down sadly before focusing on the road. "I wonder why they gave me up."

"Yeah, me too. My life would be so much different if I had you by my side from the beginning, if they hadn't given you up." Anderson smirks.

"So would mine." Miguel agrees. He notices a big sign on the left sidewalk. "We're here at Grand Park."

He makes a left turn at the next light and parks between two cars. He turns off the motorcycle and the two get off.

"Grand park. Seems so much bigger when I was a kid." Anderson said, squinting at the large trees and vast amount of grass.

"Seems grand to me." Miguel remarks. "Off on a adventure, we goooo!"

Miguel held up a fist and started marching into the park. Anderson laughed at his ridiculous antic. Miguel turned his head over to Anderson. "Do it. You know you want to!"

Anderson shook his head in amusement but he copied his twin's stance and follows him.

* * *

 **8:23am**

 **Friday**

 **November 13, 2015**

 **Big Bear Lake, California**

 **Grand Park**

* * *

"This is taking forrreverrrrr!" Miguel groans, head thrown back. Anderson checks his phone.

"It's only been five minutes."

"So? A lot can happen in five minutes or nothing at all."

Anderson looks over at Miguel. "Is that what you tell yourself when you watch the commercials that take too long?"

"Actually, yes. Yes, I do." Miguel reply, a bored look on his face.

Anderson glances around for a living human being but none were in sight. He sighs and looks over his shoulder but quickly turns back around.

Five men were following them, all wearing black sunglasses, leather jackets and he thought he saw a gun holster on two of them.

"Miguel, don't be alarmed but...were they following us before?" Anderson asked, trying not to tense.

Miguel's eyes widens and briskly stole a glance behind him. "Oh yeah. They were _definitely_ not following us before. I doubt they're here for a barbecue."

"Keep walking. Don't let them know we're aware of them." Anderson instructed. "Act normal."

"You know, normal is a relative te-"

"Miguel!" Anderson hiss, giving him a stern look.

Miguel peeks over shoulder for a second. "They're coming here faster."

Anderson turns and saw the men nearly catching up to them. "Do you get the feeling that they want to hurt us?"

"Should we run? I feel we should run." Miguel fearfully urged. He gave another glance at the approaching men. "No. Screw it. We're running." He grabs Anderson's hand and pulls him into a frantic run.

Anderson frantically looked at the five men to see they were sprinting after them. "Yep, they're _so_ not here for a barbecue."

"Shut up and keep running!" Miguel exclaims, pumping his legs to go faster.

"We could possibly take them on, can we?"

"NO! It's five against two. **TWO, ANDY**!"

"Well, one of us _is_ a superhero, sort of. I can handle them." Anderson said, pulling out of Miguel's tight grip and turns to face the oncoming men. Miguel stops running and hesitantly turns to Anderson.

The men now had batons in their hands and Anderson was sure the weapons could produce an electric shock.

Anderson ducks as the man swings his baton, which Anderson was right about, nearly electrocuted him. He throws his hand out to his attackers and screams loudly, sending three of them sprawling a few feet away, knocking them out.

Miguel hastily tugs the baton away from the man to the right and kicks him in his chest. The man groans and doubles over, giving Miguel the opportunity to swing a leg onto his left shoulder and pull the other leg onto the right shoulder. The man tried to pull him off but Miguel swung his upper body downwards, the momentum forcing the man to be flipped onto his back.

Anderson grunts in pain as the electric baton made contact with his back. He pushes himself away from the weapon and snaps around to see the man just about to launch the baton at him. He raises his arms in front of him to protect himself.

The blow never came when Miguel grabs the man's elbow and applies pressure into it. The man suddenly drops down to the floor, unconscious.

"What was that?!" Anderson cried, staring in awe at the unconscious man.

"Pressure point." Miguel shrugged. "My friend taught me how to fight and how to use pressure points."

"Cool."

"Hey, you two!" A voice carried out from across the field. The two turns to see Tony, Peter and Steve running over to them.

"What happened here?" Peter asks, looking at the five unconscious men.

"They tried to ambush us. Have no idea why, though." Miguel said, arms crossed.

"Are you okay?" Tony asks, setting a hand on Anderson's shoulder, looking at him, concerned. Miguel tilts his head at this.

"Yeah, we're fine." Anderson nods, smiling grimly.

"What should we do about them, Steve?" Peter asks, looking over at the supersoldier. Steve mulls over it before deciding.

"We tie them up and take them in for questioning."

* * *

 **9:03am**

 **Friday**

 **November 13, 2015**

 **Big Bear Lake, California**

 **Two Story House**

 **Living Room**

* * *

Miguel huffs as he messes with his phone on the couch, not really doing anything on it. He observes his surroundings.

He knew Natasha and Bruce were still upstairs, examining their DNA.

Clint was nowhere to be found but Miguel suspects that he's crawling through the vents the size of a (conveniently) human since he's heard scraping noises in there.

Thor was in the kitchen eating his pop-tarts. (Which he was going to eat later! Awwww...)

Steve and Peter were keeping watch over the men in another room, waiting for them to wake up. Miguel's sure that they were dating by the way Steve 'accidentally' brushes his hand against Peter's.

Anderson and Tony are sitting in the bay window, speaking to each other in low tones. Miguel notices the looks Tony sends Anderson's way. He couldn't fathom how Anderson has not caught onto Tony's (not so) subtle advances. Hmmm...maybe he could do something about that.

Miguel scrunches up his nose when he felt a icy breeze. He looks up at Anderson, but notices he's not shivering. Dread fills him when he realizes what's happening.

Not _again_.

He tries to take in a deep breath but it was like he was in space. He couldn't breathe. He could feel like he was being watched. He looks up to see a woman with gunshot wounds all over her body, including a bullet hole in the middle of her forehead. He gasps in horror.

Anderson turns to him when he hears his gasp and became worried when he saw he was unnaturally pale. He ran over and kneels in front of him, alerting Thor and Tony.

"Miguel, it's happening again, isn't it?" Anderson receives his answer when he wheezes.

"What's happening to him?" Tony questions, placing a hand on Miguel's forehead but snapped it away from the ice cold skin.

"It turns out he's the Heaven Angel, able to help lingering souls move on to the afterlife." Anderson explains. "Miguel, listen to me. The soul that is here is for your help. Do what you did before. Help them move on." He stares into Miguel's unfocused dark eyes. "You hear me?"

Miguel slowly nodded and stands up, shuffling over to where the wounded ghost is. He reaches out and touches her shoulder. He instantly knew her name, where she lived, what she did and how she died. Her name is Jean Dewolff of New York City. She was a well-respected police detective and she was murdered in a fatal gun battle against some guy named Stan Carter.

He felt a wave of happiness and relief flow through him as he shut his eyes against the bright light. He opened his eyes and the detective was gone.

Miguel took in a deep breath and the others surrounded him.

"You okay, now?" Anderson ask, a smile tugging at his lips.

"I think I'm getting the hang of it now." Miguel grins.

"Just wish it wouldn't be so cold when it happens though."


	7. Mayday! Mayday! Ship is slowly sinking

**3:10pm**

 **Monday**

 **September 4, 1998**

 **Ambato, Ecuador**

 **El Sueño Park**

* * *

"Daddy, hurry, hurry!" Miguel pulled hard on his father's hand, trying to rush further into the huge park.

Mateo chuckled at his son's eagerness. "Miguel, the park isn't going anywhere."

"But my friends are going to start playing without me!" Miguel exclaims, tugging hard on his father's hand.

"If they are truly your friends, then they would wait for you." Mateo replies, feeling his hand being tugged again by the three year old.

"True." Miguel nodded. "So, we can't keep them waiting!"

Before long, the large castle everyone calls a playground came into view. Miguel lets go of his father's hand and starts running to the park.

"Miguel! Watch out where you're running!" Mateo warns but he knows that his son didn't hear him.

"Children. They never change, do they?" Mateo looks to his left to see a young woman pushing a stroller walking next to him. She had soft blonde hair that cascades down her shoulders, blue eyes and she was wearing a Navy tank top with a sweater wrapped around her waist.

"No, they don't." Mateo grins fondly, catching sight of his son racing a girl to the swingset.

"Remember when we used to sneak out to come here?" The woman asks, grinning at the memory.

"Sí, how could I have forgotten, Claudia?" Mateo smirks, sitting down on a vacant bench. Claudia turns the stroller around to face her before sitting next to him.

Mateo peers into the stroller, a baby boy with black eyes stares up at him curiously. "How's little Ernesto?"

"He's been trying to stand on his own." Claudia said. "But he keeps falling on his _fondo_."

"Keep trying, little baby. Be stubborn like your papa." Mateo coos to the giggling infant before turning to Claudia. "Speaking of whom, where is your husband? He's not divorcing you, is he?"

Claudia slaps his shoulder in fake anger. "Mateo Andre García! Stop with the whole divorce nonsense!"

"I'm only joking, _señora_." Mateo rubs his shoulder and glances up briefly. "Oh, speak of the _diablo_."

A black haired man was walking towards them, carrying a couple of bags in his arms.

Mateo immediately stands up and jogs forward to meet him halfway. "Let me help you, _hermano_."

" _Gracías_ , Mat." The other said, handing off one of the bags. " _Como estás_?"

" _Buen_ , Tomás." Mateo answers, walking alongside Tomás.

"Daddy!" Two voices cried and the two men look over at the playground to see their children, Miguel and Chrisanna, waving at them. They waved back and kept on walking to the bench.

"Did Chrisanna get accepted into the Helpful Little Angels program she's been wanting to get into?" Miguel asks, setting down the bag next to the stroller and taking the other bag from Tomás and putting it down next to Claudia's legs.

" _Sí_ , she did. She was so happy and excited, she literally bounced off the walls." Claudia said. "No kidding."

"Chrissie was like a demon when she looked for the acceptance letter." Tomás remarked. "She had no patience."

Mateo smirks in amusement while he watches Miguel and Chrisanna play Tag with a few other kids in the park.

"How's Miguel faring lately?" Claudia ask, rocking the stroller back and forth.

"Fine. He grew four inches overnight last week."

"That explains why there's something different about him." Tomás chuckles, Mateo chuckling along with him.

"Are you going to tell him about...you know..." Claudia hesitantly starts to ask, Mateo giving her a blank stare. "... _that_?"

'That' being Miguel's adoption. Mateo presses his lips tightly together. "No, not until he's very much older. Maybe when he's, maybe, 40?"

"Mateo!" Tomás flicks his ear and sends him a stern look. "Don't tell him at that age! Do that and he won't trust you."

"But if I tell him when he's 16, he won't look at me the same ever again. At least when he's 40, he might still think of me as his father." Mateo explains, rubbing the back of his neck.

Claudia opens her mouth to say something but she was interrupted before she could do so.

"Mommy, I'm hungry!" Chrisanna, a dirty blonde haired girl with brown eyes, said, running up to them with Miguel behind her.

"Me too, daddy." Miguel agrees, coming to a stop in front of Mateo.

"Alright, alright. I'll get lunch, my treat." Mateo smiles, their conversation pushed to the back of his mind.

* * *

 **9:10am  
**

 **Friday**

 **November 13, 2015**

 **Big Bear Lake, California**

 **Two Story House**

 **First-floor bedroom**

* * *

"How's it going in here?" Tony called from the doorway, peering into the room at Steve and Peter. The five men are still unconscious and were tied to bedposts.

The two of them look up at him. Steve pushes off from the wall and strolls over to him.

"They haven't woken up yet." Steve frowns.

"I'm having JARVIS run their faces through facial recognition now, so we should know about their identities soon." Tony said, glancing at the three men.

"Guys, come here!" The three heard Miguel call from the living room. The three exchanged looks before walking out, Peter closing the door behind them.

"What?" Peter said, looking to see Miguel standing next to the TV and Anderson's walking downstairs with Bruce, Natasha and Clint following him. Thor walks out of the kitchen, an orange soda flavored poptart in hand. Miguel made a face at that.

"Look at this." Miguel said, turning up the volume.

"There has been a massive shootout at the National Bank in Midtown, New York. It doesn't look like it has been a robbery since the intruders didn't take a thing. Why they did this has yet to be clear." The female reporter said. "Two people have been killed in the shooting. Jean DeWolff, a highly known police officer and Chris Ferrell, a bank accountant. But it seems like Mr. Ferrell was the target and Officer DeWolff jumped in to protect him. The killer's name is Stan Carter." A picture of Stan Carter popped up on the screen. "If you see this man, do not approach him and alert the authorities. Leann Martin signing off."

Miguel turns off the TV and looks at the others blankly. "That was the man and woman from earlier."

Anderson pats him on the shoulder, comforting him. Miguel gives him an appreciative smile before sighing and going to sit on the couch next to Clint.

Anderson turns to Bruce. "Did you get the DNA results yet?" He asked softly.

Bruce nodded. "Yes, I did."

Natasha and Bruce share a look. Miguel narrows his eyes and said, "What? What's the results?"

"It's a 98.79% match. " Bruce said.

"Neat. So, it's true." Miguel chimes happily, glancing over at his definite twin brother, who smiles gleefully at him.

"So, now that we got that over with," Anderson started, "Tony, has JARVIS found any of their identities yet?"

"Not y-"

"Sir, I found a complete match to one of the men." JARVIS' voice came from Tony's phone in his pocket. He pulled out his phone and a hologram glowed in front of them, showing the leader's face and name.

"His name is Aaron Taylor. 45 years old. Unmarried, and no relatives to speak of. He has a profession in Biomedical engineering." JARVIS listed.

"I've heard of him." Bruce quietly puts in. "I actually met him once. But he didn't seem to be the type to do something like attack someone like this."

"Sometimes, people can be deceiving." Thor said, a solemn, faraway look in his eyes.

"Mmm-hmm. So, why did a bio engineer come after you two?" Clint ponders, chin on his knees.

"Sir, I'd like to point out something interesting. Aaron Taylor recently received a large amount of money into his bank account from an anonymous server." JARVIS pipes up. "An income of fifty million dollars."

"That is interesting." Steve said, crossing his arms.

"And a whole lot of money." Peter added.

"I've also taken the liberty of scanning through other people's accounts and a lot of people has also recently received a questionable amount of money deposited into their accounts." JARVIS informs. "One of them is Stan Carter after the murders of Chris Ferrell and Jean DeWolff."

"How much?" Natasha asks.

"Five hundred thousand dollars."

Tony whistles. "So...they're being paid to, what? Kill people?"

"Looks like it." Anderson said.

"Did they have phones on them when we brought them here?" Miguel questions. "Maybe we can get something off them."

"Good thinking." Peter nods, walking to the other room, Miguel following him.

Anderson sighs quietly before sitting down and resting his head on the armrest. He mulls over everything that happened so far and he could feel his heart beat faster, due to an unknown feeling in his chest.

Tony glances over at the angel and went to stand next to his head. He kneels down and whisper, "Hey. Are you feeling alright?"

Anderson looks up at him with one eye open. He smiles softly and nods. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good."

Tony narrows his eyes in disbelief. "You sure?"

"You don't believe me?"

"This has got to be a huge emotional rollercoaster for you in the past fifteen or sixteen hours." Tony said. "I would probably be freaking out."

"No, you wouldn't." Anderson snicker.

Tony shrugs. "There are things that you don't know about me."

"Well, I know you tend to stay awake for long hours at a time working on big projects, you have the habit of speaking what's on your mind when you're completely tired and not aware of your surroundings, and you're a completely addicted to coffee, black, two sugars and cream." Anderson listed, holding up three fingers.

"I don't talk what comes into mind when I'm tired." Tony objected.

"Yes, you do." Five other voices confirms. Tony gives the others a betrayed look.

"Name one time."

"I remember coming over to your lab to give you a bagel since you tend not to eat on a inventing binge." Anderson smirks. "You were so out of it, you didn't notice me walk in or hear JARVIS announce my arrival. You were ranting about how someone can be so adorable yet a very oblivious idiot."

Tony froze and the others glance at them but Anderson didn't notice. "So, who's the oblivious idiot?"

"Uhh..." Tony gapes, mouth opening and closing with no sound coming out.

"We got the phones!" Miguel calls as he and Peter walks into the room.

Tony felt relief run through him at their arrival. "Give me one. I could easily hack into it."

"No need." Peter waves him off. "Already done."

"And we found something interesting in their emails." Miguel chimes in.

"It's...not good." Peter says, looking down.

"What did you find?" Steve urged.

"A hit list." Miguel said. Shock and surprise filled the room.

"Yeah, Miguel's and Anderson's names are on that list with prices next to them." Peter said grimly.

"I'm worth twenty million but you, Andy...are worth ninety trillion." Miguel said.

Anderson's eyebrows fly up at that. "What?!"

"Let me see." Natasha say, holding out her hand. Peter gives her one of the phones and she scrolls through the list.

"There's at least a thousand people on this list and a tiny portion of it is crossed out." Natasha remarks.

"Meaning they are dead." Clint finishes.

Natasha furrows her eyebrows when she catches sight of two names on the list. "Anderson, your parents names are Emmanuel and Andrea, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Their names are on here and they're crossed out." Natasha responds.

"What?" Anderson bounds over and looks over her shoulder to see that she was right. He slides his finger upwards on the screen, going further down the list. He froze when he recognizes a familiar name.

"Tori..." Anderson whispers, shaken to his core. Tony strides over to him and puts an arm around his shoulders, Anderson shows indifference towards it.

"Bounty hunters are after us." Miguel concludes. "Why?"

"Maybe because you guys have powers." Clint points out.

"If it was, you guys would be on here too." Peter throws back. Clint raises an eyebrow at him. "Yeah, the _whole_ Avengers team are not on the list."

"Bcuzowuweer." Anderson mumbled incoherently.

"What?" Miguel said.

"Because of what we are." Anderson looks up at him, looking tired and worn-down. "We're Angels of Protection. Someone with a whole lot of money is putting out hits on all of the Angels. They want all of us dead. _Extinct_ , even."

Miguel swallows in nervousness as he feels a chill run through his body. 'Please, don't let this be another one.'

Miguel glances around and saw a woman with black hair, dark brown eyes and light brown skin. Her neck was cut open and her stomach was ripped apart. She stared at him while she travels over to him.

Miguel reaches a hand out to her. Thor noticed his action and stares at him in curiosity.

The young woman grabbed his hand and everything in her life came rushing at him. Her name is Elizabeth "Liz" Allan. She died of a car crash and it wasn't an accident. He felt surprised when he found that she was an Angel as well, the Earth Angel.

Liz smiles at him sadly before looking somewhere else. He follows her stare to Peter and he could sense the longing and despair she felt when she broke up with him a few months before. She only did it to protect him. She knew about the bounty hunters and had gone into hiding. But she was found and murdered.

Liz turns back to him and nods before vanishing in a flash of light.

Miguel lets out a deep breath and looks at the others to see they were still conversing but stopped when he noticed Thor staring right at him.

Miguel glances at Peter and bit his lip. Should he tell him?

He's going to find out sooner than later, so might as well do it now.

Before he could talk himself out of it, he blurted out, "I'm sorry, Peter."

The whole room silenced at his outburst. Peter gave him a questioning and confused look. "Why are you sorry?"

"Be-because she died a minute ago." Miguel said, looking at his hands. "Liz died, Peter."

Peter choked down a cry and turns around. "Why? Why? Why? Why? WHY?!" He falls to his knees and starts punching the floor.

Steve immediately grabs his hands, so he doesn't hurt himself but he was instantly thrown across the room with a thud. He looks at Peter in surprise.

Peter was breathing heavily and rocking back and forth on his knees.

Anderson didn't notice any of it when he felt extremely light-headed and he could see black spots in his vision.

Tony grunts in surprise when Anderson starts to fall and he struggles to keep him upright.

Bruce quickly stood to help him and they carried him to the couch. Tony kept a protective hand on his arm while eyeing the suddenly-way-too-strong Peter pounds on the floor, cracking the wood.

"Peter, stop!" Miguel cries, latching onto both of his hands and refuses to let go. He holds him in closer, not budging while Peter struggled to be released.

"Let me go!"

"No!"

Steve shook off the slight pain and hurried over to the struggling duo, Thor, Natasha and Clint approaching from behind.

Steve pulls Peter away from Miguel and embraces him tightly to his chest, the younger sobbing wildly.

Thor pulls Miguel to his feet and drags him to the kitchen. Natasha follows them while Clint went to the couch.

"Why did he faint?" Clint pointed at Anderson.

"I don't know." Tony says, frowning. He looks down at the screamer when he gasped and opened his eyes.

He glances over at Tony and say, "They're all going to die."

Bruce, Clint and Tony gave each other puzzled looks before looking down at Anderson.

"My kind. They're all going to die."


End file.
